When it Comes to Cannabis Advertising, Be Careful With Social Media Influencers
Uncategorized May 10, 2019
It’s becoming more and more common for companies in all industries to use social media “influencers” to promote their goods and services online. Influencer advertising in the cannabis industry is a particularly risky idea because paid advertisers need to comply with all cannabis marketing and advertising rules. It goes without saying that social media influencers…
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Cannabis Patent Litigation Update: The 911 Patent Passes the (Alice) Test!
Uncategorized May 9, 2019
As promised, here’s an update on the first ever cannabis patent infringement case, which we’ve previously written about here and here. Since it’s been a little while – plaintiff United Cannabis Corporation (“UCANN”) owns the “911 Patent,” which generally covers liquid cannabinol formulations of a purified CBD and/or THC greater than 95%. Last July, UCANN…
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On April 24, 2019, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that the Plant Variety Protection Office (PVPO) would begin accepting applications of seed-propagated hemp for plant variety protection. In the United States, there are three different ways to go about protecting intellectual property associated with plant varieties: Plant Variety Protection – available for…
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Vireo Health Gets a Patent Win on its Tobacco Mitigation Cannabis Product
Uncategorized April 28, 2019
Some pretty cool news: on Thursday, Vireo Health International, Inc. (“Vireo”) announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) finally issued a Notice of Allowance for its patent application filed back in March 2017 – ““Tobacco Products with Cannabinoid Additives and Methods for Reducing the Harm Associated with Tobacco Use.” Receiving a Notice…
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Last week, Canadian corporation Yield Growth Corp. announced that its subsidiary, Urban Juve Provisions, filed a Patent Co-operation Treaty Application (PCT Application) entitled “Cannabis Root Extract, Method of Manufacture, Method of Use.” The PCT Application claims priority to eleven U.S. patents filed in the last year by the company and contains claims to a method…
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Dear Cannabis Business Owners: Clear Your Marks Before Investing in Branding
Uncategorized April 10, 2019
It has become an unfortunate trend for clients to come to me seeking trademark and brand protection advice after spending large sums of money on brand design, often having engaged with third-party designers, only for us to find out that their mark may infringe on the rights of a third-party. I really cannot stress this…
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Canadian Advertising and Promotion Regulations Really Are As Strict As We Thought
Uncategorized April 5, 2019
I was fortunate to spend a couple of days last week in Vancouver, B.C. attending an American Bar Association Business Law Section meeting, where I joined a panel to discuss the myriad intellectual property (“IP”) issues business lawyers advising cannabis clients should be thinking about. The panel was comprised of both Canadian and U.S. attorneys,…
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I’ve written extensively about trademark litigation matters involving cannabis brands, but up until now, the trend in these lawsuits has been well-known non-cannabis companies suing cannabis companies. To read more about these cases, see the following posts: UPS Sues Multiple Cannabis Delivery Companies for Trademark Infringement What NOT to do with your Cannabis Brand: The…
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Cannabis Patents are Approaching the Patent Trial and Appeal Board
Recreational MarijuanaUncategorized March 13, 2019
In keeping with last week’s cannabis patent litigation update, it’s important to discuss a landmark decision that was made by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) Patent Trial and Appeal Board (“PTAB”) on claims involving a cannabis patent just two months ago. On January 3, 2019, the PTAB published its Final Written Decision in…
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“CBD” Coffee and the Importance of Distinctiveness for Trademark Protection
Uncategorized March 6, 2019
An interesting Bloomberg article came across my desk a couple weeks ago called, “CBD Craze is Creating a Trademark Problem for a Coffee Brand in Maine.” The article raises a couple of important issues related to the trademark requirement of distinctiveness, as well as the lengths to which one can stretch their trademark protection. The…
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